GRAND FINAL SPRINT

WESTERN AUSTRALIAN STATE UNIFORMS (1904-today)

The inaugural Western Australian State jumper in 1904 featured a black swan, a symbol synonymous with the State as far back as its first colonial flag in the 1800s. In well-over a century of representative football since, there have been just twelve seasons when the Western Australians took the field without a swan on their jumper.

Ironically, that 1977 to 1988 State of Origin era marked the most successful period in the State's history, beginning with a 94-point humbling of Victoria in October, 1977 and culminating with national titles in 1979, 1983, 1984 and 1986.

Various designs have come and gone including green jumpers (1904-34) and black jumpers (1958-63 / 1994-99) but the classic Western Australian gold jumper with a black swan - first introduced in 1935 - is still worn proudly today.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STATE UNIFORMS (1879-today)

Trial and error sums up South Australia's long road to the classic double V design that we associate with them today.

In 1907-08 football led a push for a uniform set of colours to be adopted by South Australian representative teams. This resulted in a number of chocolate brown and turquoise blue uniforms over the next twenty years.

A second push by the SANFL in 1929-30 for uniform State colours was far more successful and resulted in all South Australian sporting bodies adopting red, navy blue and gold. However, the SANFL could not find the right design to make these colours work, wearing six different designs in seven seasons during the 1930s.

It wasn't until 1936 that the first double V was worn and after much searching, the South Australians had finally found a uniform to build from.

QUEENSLAND STATE UNIFORMS (1884-today)

For Queensland representative football it has always been, and will always be about the Q. Ever since the first Q appeared on the State jumper in 1908 there have been near annual changes in the size, shape and font.

Season 1975 saw a bold, new look that coincided with Queensland football's first season as reigning Section 2 national champions. A second national championship was added in 1979 before Queensland adopted the white jumper with maroon sash that has become synonymous with the State.

On July 16, 1991 the maroons pulled-off the greatest victory in their storied history, defeating Victoria by 44 points at the Gabba. This match also marked the debut of the Port Adelaide-style maroon jumper with white stripes.

The State team bounced between the sash and the stripes throughout the early 2000s before settling on an all-new design in 2014 that returns the focus to the Q, once again positioned prominently front and centre on the Queensland jumper.

AFL NIGHT SERIES & PRE-SEASON CUP (1956-1987)

The many eras of the Night Series and Pre-Season Cup (montage by David Eastman)

For today’s football fans the pre-season is a time to take in some sun while watching their club’s draftees try to make an early impression. Not so long ago it was a very different story when fans braved the rains and icy winds of Waverley Park in mid-season for the Night Series competition.

The competition played an important role in the development of today's game with the 1956-71 series allowing then-cellar dwellers Fitzroy, Footscray, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, South Melbourne and St Kilda to finally claim some silverware and creating a springboard for premiership success.

In 1977 the series was re-born under the bright lights of Waverley Park and from 1979 to 1986 was run by Australian Football Championships Pty Ltd. This AFC series was Australia’s first truly national football competition and provided the VFL with a blueprint for expansion, leading to the birth of today’s AFL.

There is scant information on these matches to be found online or in print – especially for the AFC era – and what little exists is often riddled with factual errors.

HardBallGet.net is proud to finally restore this missing link in our great game's history, beginning with an in-depth season-by-season review of the Night Series for seasons 1956-71 and 1977-87.

Each season review includes a summary of every match (quarter-by-quarter scores, best players, goalkickers, umpires and crowds). Also included are detailed statistics, grand final records and facts & figures for the entire series (1956 to 2013).

WELCOME ABOARD, MATT GIBBS!

HardBallGet.net is excited to announce the addition of Matt Gibbs to the team.

Gibbs joins the site with significant football writing experience, having contributed over 300 articles on local football to the Geelong Advertiser over the past five years.

He has also provided commentary for numerous Grand Finals in the local Geelong League since 2012 and is a long-serving moderator on the popular BigFooty website.

In his new role with HardBallGet.net, Gibbs will contribute content exploring long-forgotten and previously unexplored areas of Australian Football history; his first article sheds light on some of the best footy content to be found on YouTube.

VFA-VFL REPRESENTATIVE UNIFORMS (1879-today)

The Victorian Football Association (VFA) has had a long and varied role in representative football and served as Victoria's official representative team during the 1879-1896 intercolonial era.

In October 1896 their eight strongest teams broke away to form the VFL (now AFL). After the split there were relatively brief periods (1950-69/1987-89) when the VFA regained official interstate status; and many years when they found themselves exiled from top-level interstate football, settling for representative matches against lower-level leagues instead.

The VFA's representative uniforms are remarkably varied, with many classic designs that most of today's football fans have never seen... until now! Click the link below to discover more.

AFL INTER-CLUB TROPHIES & MEDALS

For nearly a century the premiership title was the sole focus of VFL-AFL clubs. Fast forward to today and the football landscape is littered with awards; some honour past greats, some are for a good cause, and others, frankly, seem to be awards for the sake of having an award (the Fila Cup, anyone?).

During the 2015 season there are over fifty trophies, shields, medals, cups (and even a plate) on offer. So when did this flood of silverware begin?

Click the link for the full story, including the history of each award and a club-by-club list...

VFA PROMOTION & RELEGATION

Whilst promotion and relegation is commonplace in soccer, in Australian football such a system remains a rarity. In 1961 the VFA made the monumental decision to split their competition into two divisions, adopting a "one-up, one-down" system.

A handful of modern clubs such as Box Hill, Coburg, and Williamstown successfully survived their time in the lower tier. However, for many traditional VFA clubs such as Northcote and Yarraville, relegation proved to be a one-way ticket to oblivion.

This new article from HardBallGet.net explores the reasons for the VFA dividing their teams, provides a year-by-year history of promotion and relegation, and looks at the aftermath of divisional football when the competition was finally unified again for the 1989 season.

NFL NIGHT SERIES (1976-79)

1976 - South Fremantle v Carlton

The NFL Night Series era was one of the most tumultuous periods in the history of Australian football, yet the political struggles of that time have been largely forgotten. Over four seasons the National Football League (NFL) and the Victorian Football League (VFL) battled for control of the game.

The NFL, as football's governing body, planned to create the first national competition but the VFL, as football's biggest State League, had their own national expansion plans they were determined to follow.

Click below for full details of the four NFL Night Series played (known as the Wills Cup, Ardath Cup and Escort Cup) - including match reports- featuring teams from the VFL, SANFL, WAFL, VFA, QAFL, Tasmania, New South Wales and the ACT.

Moorabbin FC - VFA Premiers in 1963, Dead in 1964(Moorabbin-Kingston Leader 18-6-2013) A look at the incredible story of the Moorabbin Kangaroos: premiers of the VFA in 1963 then suspended from the competition the following pre-season. Within months the reigning premiers ceased to exist.

DISCOVERIES

To launch the AFL's Centenary season, a Lightning Premiership was played at Waverley Park over three days; the first such event to be held by the VFL-AFL since the 1953 season. In true "Arctic Park" style, the competition was plagued by gale force winds and icy rain.

A one-off Lightning Premiership Sprint was also held. Heats were run before the semi-final matches and the final took place prior to the Lightning Premiership Grand Final. No mention of the sprint appeared in the official matchday programme or Melbourne's daily papers in the lead up to the event.

IMAGES OF THE PAST

VFA NON-PREMIERSHIP MATCHES

1924 "Championship of Victoria" - Footscray (VFA) vs Essendon (VFL)

VFA clubs have played many official and unofficial games outside of the standard premiership matches scheduled each season.

These have ranged from the inter-colonial tours of the late-1800s to the modern-day Foxtel Cup matches between the best of the State League teams. This new section of HardBallGet.net features a huge array of these contests:EXHIBITION MATCHES OF NOTEEverything from Williamstown vs New South Wales in 1886 to Williamstown vs North Melbourne in 1992.

VFA vs VFL (1897-)The rivalry continues! Includes the long-forgotten practice games of 1898-1906.

PROMOTION PLAYOFFS (1961-62)A second shot at promotion for the Second Division runners-up.

REPRESENTATIVE FOOTBALL

The narrow focus on Interstate and State of Origin football has seen many important matches, captaincy honours and memorable goalkicking feats involving the representative teams of the VFL, SANFL, WAFL and other state leagues omitted from official lists.

HardBallGet.net aims to widen the focus to all representative matches. Click the link below to find out more...

AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL'S FORGOTTEN PAST

What is HardBallGet.net all about? INTERSTATE AND REPRESENTATIVE FOOTBALLThis was the biggest stage for champions like Skilton, Murray and Flower whose clubs rarely played finals football, yet today the growth of the AFL has seen this part of the game turned into an afterthought. It's time to remember these contests before they disappear from our collective memory.THE STATE LEAGUES - SANFL, WAFL, VFA, etc.An in-depth look at the historical records of the various State Leagues that were arch-rivals of the VFL before the formation of the AFL turned them into development competitions for the national league.VFL-AFL HISTORYExploring all those little known facts that are not covered in the AFL's annual statistical guide - but should be.MYTHBUSTINGIdentifying and correcting the errors and myths that have quietly developed into football "fact".BUT WHY DOES ALL OF THIS MATTER?The focus in Australian football, understandably, is on today and tomorrow. Players, coaches, recruiters - none of them can rest on what they have achieved in the past. When a season ends the classic matches, the "unforgettable" marks and goals, the champion players who retire are all consigned to the past as we look to the future.

Some players and their deeds will live on via stories and images, others - like the Victorian team of 1902 shown at the top of this page - will fade from view.

Unfortunately, this obsession with new action has meant that many significant achievements in Australian football have been recorded inaccurately or completely overlooked. Mistakes went unchecked; memories and vague recollections were allowed to become historical facts.

As a result, much of the information found today in print and online is fragmented, twisted or missing key details to the point where anyone seeking a complete picture of what happened over the past 150-plus years is often left with a jigsaw that seemingly cannot be solved.

John Devaney's former website (fullpointsfooty) made massive in-roads into righting this wrong; focusing heavily on player biographies, club histories and the non-first class leagues of Australia.

www.HardBallGet.net aims to continue that work by providing the history and statistics you won't find anywhere else - complete, correct and all in one place - so we have a reference point to work from as we look to the future.